Fluid regulators, also referred to herein as pressure regulators, are used in a myriad of industrial and residential applications for controlling the downstream pressure of a fluid. For example, in chemical processing plants or oil refineries, fluid regulators are used to manipulate a flowing fluid to compensate for increases or decreases in demand, or other load disturbances, and thus keep the fluid pressure regulated. Similarly, fluid regulators may be used in plumbing fixtures to maintain a pre-determined pressure of fluid that automatically adjusts to variations in demand, such as anti-scald valves in showers or faucets. By controlling downstream pressure, fluid regulators compensate for variations in downstream demand. For example, as downstream demand increases, fluid regulators open to allow more fluid to flow through the fluid regulator, thus maintaining a relatively constant downstream pressure. On the other hand, as downstream demand decreases, fluid regulators close to reduce the amount of fluid flowing through the fluid regulator, again maintaining a relatively constant downstream pressure.
In some cases, the operational stability, and thus the capacity and performance, of the fluid regulator may be adversely affected by other components used in conjunction with the fluid regulator. In some basic utility applications, for example, the natural frequency of the pipeline system used with the fluid regulator may create a harmonic resonation that is communicated to the fluid regulator. As another example, large capacity meters, e.g., a Rotary Meter, located downstream of the fluid regulator may serve to send pulsations through the flow stream that resonate within the fluid regulator. Additionally, new burner technologies, e.g., Pulse Boilers, developed to improve burner efficiency, may create pulsating feedback that resonates within the fluid regulator and/or causes the fluid regulator to pulsate in sympathy with such feedback.